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Little  Talks  on 
School    Management 


By 
RANDALL  N.  SAUNDERS 

School  Commissioner  First  District 
Claverack,  New  York 


/  ^^'2  7 


NEW  YORK 
A.  S.  BARNES  &  COMPANY 


Copyright,  1906,  by 

A.   S.    BARNES  &  COMPANY 

New  York 


v5  TO 

'^  MR.    OSSIAN    LANG 

IN    HU]MBLE    RECOGNITION    Or    HIS 
I 

VALUABLE  EDITORIAL  SERVICES  IN 

THE    CAUSE    OF    EDUCATION,    AND 

AS   A   MODEST   TOKEN   OF   THE   AU- 

THOR's       PERSONAL        FRIENDSHIP 

AND    APPRECIATION. 


PREFACE 

I  AM  asked  to  write  a  fore-word  for  this 
little  volume,  and  I  scarcely  know  what  to 
say.  It  seems  to  me  to  be  a  bootless  task ; 
for,  in  the  guilty  knowledge  that  I  seldom 
read  a  "Preface,"  I  imagine  that  the  ma- 
jority of  readers  are  like  myself  and  are 
more  anxious  to  know  what  the  author  has 
to  say  in  the  intentional  part  of  the  work 
that  is  the  real  occasion  for  the  publica- 
tion. There  is  an  object  in  the  pages  which 
r^  follow,  and  you  are  at  liberty  to  drop  this 
and  turn  to  them  at  once.  In  them  I  have 
"^  striven  to  give  briefly  a  history  of  the 
^  things  that  helped  me  in  my  work  as  a 
primary  teacher,  and  I  have  striven  to 
make  the  "talks"  practical  and  also  inspi- 
rational. All  but  one  of  the  chapters,  or 
divisions,  of  the  little  book  have  been  pub- 
lished in  the  pages  of  educational  periodi- 
cals, and  I  am  happy  to  say  that  I  have 
received  commendation  for  them  from 
teachers  of  experience,  as  well  as  from 
those  who  have  but  recently  entered  the 

5 


6  PREFACE 

profession.  I  know,  from  experience,  that 
no  matter  how  thoroughly  one  has  been 
prepared — no  matter  how  much  experience 
one  has  had — in  managing  a  school  and  in 
attempting  to  influence  a  community,  a 
thousand  and  one  problems  will  arise  to 
test  ingenuity  and  demand  solution.  "In 
a  multitude  of  counselors  there  is 
strength,"  and  if  this  little  book,  as  one, 
shall  be  found,  in  the  slightest  degree,  sug- 
gestive and  helpful,  its  mission  will  have 
been  fulfilled  and  its  author  rewarded,  in 
addition  to  the  pleasure  he  has  derived 
from  the  labor  expended  in  its  prepara- 
tion. THE  AUTHOR. 
Hudson,  N.  Y. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  page: 

I.  Before  School 9 

II.  Opening  Exercises 13 

III.  Getting  to  Work 17 

IV.  Classes  and  Divisions 21 

V.  Keeping  Pupils  Busy 26 

VI.  Eecesses  30 

VII.  Unifying  the  School 34 

VIII.  Parental  Co-operation 39 

IX.  Assistance  from  Pupils. 44 

X.  Journalism  in  a  District  School.  49 

XI.  Character  in  Hiding 94 

XII.  Our  Glorious  Heritage 57 

XIII.  Education  for  Usefulness 60 

XIV.  Home  Lessons 64 


Little  Talks  on  School 
Management 


BEFORE  SCHOOL 

/  (^S^y 

I  AM  satisfied  that  the  moments  spent  by 
both  teacher  and  pupil  before  school  have 
a  great  influence  on  the  character  of  the 
sessions.  The  good  feeling — or  the  ill  feel- 
ing, that  may  be  engendered  in  those  mo- 
ments of  relaxed  tension  when  the  pupils 
are  left  largely  to  follow  their  own  inclina- 
tions, will  surely  follow  thru  the  day  and 
be  manifested  in  every  exercise  and  recita- 
tion. 

If  the  day  has  opened  with  an  alterca- 
tion in  the  school  yard,  if  it  has  opened 
with  some  trespass  that  demands  a  trial 
and  a  punishment,  a  spirit  of  controversy, 
of  revenge,  of  sadness,  or  of  sulkiness  will 
pervade  the  whole  day  and  destroy  the  pos- 
sibility of  getting  the  best  results  from  that 
day's  work.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  day 
be  opened  in  the  schoolyard  with  some 
game  in  which  all  have  been  interested  and 
9 


10  SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT 

all  have  cnjojed,  and  the  pupils  come  in 
tired  for  the  moment,  with  that  dangerous 
superabundance  of  animal  spirits  in  a 
measure  reduced,  and  with  the  glow  of  the 
brisk  pleasure  still  in  their  hearts  and  on 
their  faces,  that  day  will  have  a  briskness 
and  a  glow  that  will  be  inspiring  to  both 
teacher  and  pupil,  and  the  teacher  will  close 
his  room  witii  a  feeling  so  seldom  experi- 
enced, that  the  day  has  approached  the 
ideal. 

There  is  always  an  unknown  quantity  in 
the  daily  experience  of  many  teachers — a 
quantity  that  exhausts  nervous  force,  en- 
genders senseless  apprehension,  and  is  par- 
alyzing to  the  best  effort.  This  quantity 
is  found  in  the  equation,  "X  equals  'what's 
coming  next',"  and  the  constant  dread  of 
the  solution  has  been  the  hete  noire  that 
has  frightened  many  a  teacher  from  the 
profession. 

It  strikes  me  that  one  of  the  prime 
requisites  for  a  successful  teacher  is  ubiq:^ 
_^ity,  that  omnipresence  that  will  enable  him 
to  anticipate  the  events  of  the  day,  dissi- 
pating the  potentiality  of  the  problem  by 
being  "on  deck"  first,  last,  and  all  the  time, 
having  a  thoro  knowledge  of  the  "what 
next"  by  guiding  the  impulses  that  influ- 
ence its  production.  In  many  years'  expe- 
rience, I  have  found  that  the  moments  I 
spent  with  my  boys  and  girls  "before 
school"  were  the  most  valuable  moments  of 
the  day.     There  will  be  little  likelihood  of 


BEFORE    SCHOOL  11 

flagrant  transgressions  under  the  eye  of  a 
■kindly  but  inflexible  teacher.  His  pres- 
ence alone,  among  the  boys  and  girls  while 
at  play,  is  a  safeguard,  even  tho  he  be 
meditative  and  seemingly  oblivious  of  what 
is  going  on.  And  what  may  not  his  in- 
fluence be  if  he  joins  heartily  in  the  play? 

Whenever  I  came  out  in  the  spring  with 
a  hastily  fashioned  kite  or  a  pair  of  tempt- 
ingly treacherous  stilts,  I  was  at  once  the 
centre  of  an  expectant  group,  anxious  to 
see  me  do  something  which  I  did  not,  for  I 
entrusted  the  trial  of  all  contrivances  to 
the  many  who  were  willing  to  experiment. 
Need  I  say  that  the  girls  were  treated  to 
paper  doll  dresses  that  would  have  made 
Worth  green  with  envy? 

To  ball  and  bat,  to  croquet  and  other 
out-of-door  games,  to  snow  forts  and  snow 
men,  to  conundrums,  to  quiet  "sitting 
down"  games  "before  school,"  I  attribute 
many  of  the  "best"  days  for  which  we  ever 
long.  Such  days  I  sincerely  believe  are 
to  be  largely  attained  thru  the  "before 
school"  influence  of  the  teacher's  interested 
presence  among  his  pupils,  with  them,  heart 
and  hand,  in  everything,  as  a  good,  but  not 
a  goody-good  child  (?)  himself,  instruct- 
ing, by  active  example,  controlling  by  un- 
ostentatious assumption  of  the  leadership 
when  the  game  evinces  alarming  tendencies. 

That  group  of  idle  boys,  over  there,  with 
their  heads  together,  giggling  and  sly- 
glancing,  without  plot  or  intention  are  con- 


12  SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT 

cocting  that  which  in  its  influence  will  make 
your  school-room  a  miniature  shcol  for  the 
wliolc  day.  Get  them  busy  without  delay. 
There  is  still  another  phase  of  the  sub- 
ject, on  which  just  a  word,  and  that  only 
a  question.  Will  not  the  teacher  be  fresher, 
better  tempered,  and  less  likely  to  make  the 
very  errors  against  which  he  would  guard, 
if  he  spends  a  portion  of  the  play  time  on 
the  play  ground.'* 


II 

OPENING    EXERCISES 

A  moment's  calm  after  the  pupils  are 
seated  tends  to  ensure  a  receptive  attitude 
in  schools  where  the  opening  exercises  are 
varied  and  the  discipline  is  good.  With 
the  pupil  fresh  from  exercise,  that  moment 
of  expectant  tranquillity  is  the  opened 
vestibule  for  the  earnest  introduction  of 
some  sweet  or  noble  guest  of  thought  to 
the  passive  mind,  ere  the  workmen,  duties 
of  the  day  or  of  the  session,  throng  to  their 
places. 

As  we  have  staples  of  diet  ever  present 
at  the  table,  so  I  believe  that  the  Great 
Teacher's  injunction  should  be  followed,  in 
a  broad  and  non-sectarian  sense,  and  that 
His  lambs  should  regularly  be  fed  the  bread 
of  life  without  sennon  or  sanctimonious- 
ness. The  reading  of  the  Bible,  the  great- 
est code  of  ethics  and  the  grandest  litera- 
ture ever  compiled,  was  the  one  staple  ever 
present,  and  I  always  strove  to  make  the 
morning  lesson  from  the  book  of  books  one 
of  the  most  interesting  ,of  the  day.  Rev- 
erence for  things  considered  holy  and  to  be 
respected,  a  reverence  so  much  needed  at 
the  present  time, — will  grow  out  of  the 
manner  in  which  this  thing  is  done.  Treat 

13 


14)  SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT 

tlie  book  witli  care, — put  feeling  into  the 
rendition  of  its  passages,  and  the  children 
will  catch  the  spirit  of  reverence  and  re- 
flect, but  dont  be  sanctimonious  or  you 
will  be  promptly  and  properly  suspected, 
and  the  good  influence  to  be  desired  will 
be  dissipated. 

I  varied  the  reading  of  the  Bible.  For 
a  week  (for  illustration)  we  would  read 
the  First  Psalm  every  morning,  or  until  we 
could  repeat  it  from  memory.  In  this  way, 
in  time,  a  school  would  leani  many  of  the 
shorter  songs  of  David  and  other  short 
selections.  Then,  again,  I  would  select  a 
portion,  reading  it  a  few  lines  at  a  time, 
the  lines  to  be  repeated  by  the  school, — a 
short  responsive  exercise  that  is  good  for 
fixing  attention  and  that  was  most  thoroly 
enjoyed  whenever  I  used  it.  Then,  again, 
I  asked  some  of  the  older  boys  and  girls 
occasionally  to  read,  and  being  selected  to 
read  was  always  treated  as  a  privilege, — 
a  responsibility, — and  the  reading,  without 
an  exception,  was  always  conducted  in  a 
manner  nowise  lowering  the  dignity  of  the 
office. 

Sometimes  the  Bible  text  suggested  an 
ethical  lesson  to  be  briefly  and  beneficially 
developed,  and  sometimes  the  text  was 
chosen  for  the  ethical  lesson  it  contained 
and  which  I  had  in  mind  as  needed  by  the 
school.  We  were  like  a  big  family  at  this 
exercise,  and  seldom  did  any  mischief  creep 
in  to  mar  it  all. 


OPENING  EXERCISES  16, 

I 

As  to  the  singing.  In  some  schools  I 
had  an  instrument,  and  was  fortunate  in 
having  several  girls  in  each  to  play  for 
me.  Altho  I  knew  something  of  both  vocal 
and  instrumental  music,  I  believed  that  it 
was  far  better  to  employ  the  talents  about 
nie  rather  than  to  display  those  I  possessed. 
It  is  better  to  have  boys  and  girls  beg  a 
musical  treat  (?)  from  you  than  to  become 
a  bore  by  constantly  doing  something  that 
several  in  your  school  can  do  as  well  so  far 
as  the  simple  needs  demand. 

We  varied  our  singing.  The  morning 
song  would  be  in  character  a  hymn,  stirring 
or  tender  as  the  mood  of  the  morning 
needed  guiding,  or  as  the  nature  of  the 
ISible  reading  or  the  ethical  lesson  demand- 
ed. A  song  from  the  song  book,  patriotic 
or  sentimental,  opened  the  afternoon  exer- 
cises, and  this  was  varied  occasionally  by 
a  solo  or  a  duo,  if  I  had  a  prospective  "bella 
donna"  or  two  among  my  charges.  A  short 
nature  or  information  lesson  followed  the 
song,  and  I  found  my  boys  and  girls  never 
weary  of  learning  facts,  developed  if  pos- 
sible thini  objects,  about  the  animals  and 
things  by  which  they  were  surrounded. 

At  this  time  boys  and  girls  were  given 
commissions  of  exploration  and  investiga- 
tion, and  at  this  time  reports  of  research 
and  expeditions  were  received.  There  could 
be,  of  course,  no  routine, — no  succession, — 
no  regular  method ;  but  rather  an  irregular 
method  that  was   more   effective   from   its 


r 


16  SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT 

very  variability  and  novelty.  At  this  time, 
new  inventions  and  discoveries  were  ex- 
plained briefly,  and  discussed  in  regard  to 
their  vakie  to  the  world;  and  every  day  I 
demanded  of  each  pupil  old  enough  to  read 
the  papers  a  news  item  (excluding  all  rec- 
ord of  crime),  the  more  important  of  which 
received  a  word  of  conmient. 

Thus  varied  and  conducted,  my  opening 
exercises  were  often  the  green  spots  in 
many  a  desert  day,  and  I  believe  that  they 
watered  and  made  fertile  many  a  day  that 
would  have  been  an  arid  Sahara  without 
them.  They  engendered  the  growth  and 
strengthening  of  attention,  reverence  and 
cheerfulness ;  three  buds  that  are  often 
blighted  by  a  sharp  rattling  hail  of  fixed 
routine  or  a  cold  air  of  indifference  at  the 
very  threshold  of  tlie  da\vn. 


Ill 

GETTING    TO    WORK 

I  ASSUME  that  you  agree  with  me  that 
little  of  permanent  value  can  be  accom- 
plished in  school  work  without  good  order. 
The  secret  of  obtaining  this  without  being 
"cursed  for  a  tyrant  or  kicked  for  a  tool" 
is  almost  as  difficult  of  discovery,  for  those 
who  have  it  not,  as  the  fabled  philosopher's 
stone;  and  those  who  have  become  pos- 
sessors of  this  magic  property  of  turning 
all  to  bright  and  pleasing  gold  find  it  as 
difficult  of  description  as  it  was  of  dis- 
covery. Yet  this  power  can  be  attained, 
and  quickly,  by  one  who  has  a  natural  en- 
dowment for  leadership,  and  also  by  one 
who  is  under  good  self-control  and  prac- 
tices exactly  what  he  preaches. 

In  a  well  regulated  school  the  pupils 
come  in  quietly  when  the  bell  rings,  without 
laughter,  giggling  or  talking  across  the 
seats.  After  the  opening  exercises  there 
are  two  ways  of  getting  to  work:  One  of 
a  careless,  noisy,  petulant  preparation,  a 
hunting  up  of  books,  a  sharpening  of  pen- 
cils, the  doing  of  a  hundred  things  that 
should  have  been  done  before  sehool  and 
that  keeps  the  room  in  an  uproar  for  from 
17 


18  SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT 

five  to  fifteen  minutes,  wliile  the  teacher 
stands  helplessly  rapping  for  calm;  the 
other,  of  a  quiet,  orderly  taking  up  of  the 
implements  at  hand  for  use  in  the  tasks  of 
the  session.  For  the  attainment  and  main- 
taining of  this  latter  condition  we  must 
strive. 

What  a  shock  it  gives  a  school  undis- 
ciplined to  have  an  order  compelling  teach- 
er take  control !  How  injured  the  big  boys 
look  when  they  find  they  cannot  go  for  the 
neglected  pail  of  water!  How  dreadfully 
uncomfortable  the  hot,  fussy,  red-faced 
children  look  when  they  find  they  cannot 
spend  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  quarreling  and 
splashing  like  greedy  ducklings  about  the 
water  pail,  each  in  order  or  rather  in  dis- 
order, to  guzzle  dowTi  a  dipperful  of  water 
for  no  other  purpose  than  to  kill  time! 
How  they  make  blunt  pencils  squeak !  How 
they  will  idle  for  want  of  the  book  for 
which  they  are  not  allowed  to  turn  the 
school-room  topsy  turvy,  and  how  the  tardy 
ones  open  their  eyes  to  find  their  lost  time 
charged  up  to  them,  to  be  made  up  out  of 
play  time — in  short,  how  these  little  ob- 
structionists will  squirm  and  kick  until  they 
are  satisfied  that  order  is  inevitable,  and 
that  the  teacher  is  as  kindly  and  inflexible 
as  the  power  that  brings  in  the  days  and 
the  seasons  with  benign  and  undisturbed 
regularity. 

It  takes  but  a  short  time  to  create  a  "new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth"  out  of  such  a  little 


GETTING  TO  WORK  19 

chaos — a  new  regime  of  neatness,  quiet, 
and  punctuality  that  enables  the  teacher 
at  five  or  ten  minutes  past  nine  to  view  his 
little  charge  silently  at  its  individual  tasks^^ 

You  demand  that  everything  be  in  readi-\ 
ness.  Desks  in  order,  books  arranged,  pen- 
cils sharpened,  hair  combed,  hands  washed, 
thirst  assuaged — everything  in  readiness 
for  taking  up  the  work  of  the  session  ;  and, 
when  this  condition  has  been  attained,  there 
is  nothing  under  the  sun  left  to  do  after 
the  opening  exercises  but  to  go  to  work. 

Boys  and  girls  are  not  infallible,  neither 
is  it  to  be  expected  that  they  will  always 
be  thoughtful,  and,  as  one  does  not  wish 
to  seem  unreasonable  and  may  even  desire 
to  be  indulgent,  I  have  found  that  a  warn- 
ing bell  rung  five  or  ten  minutes  before 
the  final  call  is  an  excellent  means  of  re- 
minding all  of  duties  unperformed,  while 
it  removes  often  the  necessity  of  speaking, 
and  leaves  no  possible  excuse  for  the  pupils' 
not  being  prepared  for  work  at  the  proper 
time. 

Perfection  in  any  condition  will  ever  re- 
main an  ideal,  yet  it  is  worthy  of  a  per- 
sistent attempt  at  attainment.  There  will 
always  be  the  boy  or  the  girl  who  dislikes 
school,  and  is  forever  tardy ;  there  will  ever 
be  the  innocently  forgetful  to  deprive  whom 
of  some  prized  pleasure  will  bring  tears  to 
your  own  eyes ;  there  will  ever  be  the  per- 
sistent one  who  spends  the  largest  part  of 
the  time  inventing  excuses  for  breaking  in 


20  SCTIOOT.  MANAGEMENT 

on  the  rcfTulur  order;  but,  by  witchcraft  (I 
have  grave  doubts  about  the  value  of 
switchcraft  at  any  time),  you  may  get 
these  discordant  elements  harmonized — in- 
spired with  your  own  zeal  for  the  general 
good,  and  make  of  them  aids  instead  of 
hindrances  in  your  plan,  plea,  and  progress 
for  good  order. 

There  will  ever  be  lots  of  little  things 
to  keep  the  school-house  about  seven  doors 
below  Paradise :  but  with  the  good  Persian, 
you  can  walk  the  bridge  Chinvat,  which  is 
said  to  be  a  hair  in  width,  and  ever  strive 
with  the  Divs  and  the  Jinns  of  disorder  for 
the  peace  of  your  soul. 


IV 
CLASSES  AND  DIVISIONS 

In  ungraded  country  schools,  the  prob- 
lem of  keeping  down  the  number  of  classes 
and  of  arranging  divisions  is  one  that  gives 
the  teacher  no  little  trouble  and  anxiety. 

The  country  school,  offering  unre- 
strained an  opportunity  for  the  individu- 
ality of  the  teacher  and  the  individualities 
of  the  pupils  as  well,  is  likely,  in  the  matter 
of  classes  and  divisions,  to  assume  a  ka- 
leidoscopic character,^ever  changing  in 
relation  to  the  punctuality,  ability,  and  ap- 
plication or  energy  of  the  various  pupils. 

In  a  graded  school,  where  the  teacher  is 
a  part  of  a  mechanism  that  turns  off  so 
many  pages  in  so  many  days,  regardless 
of  the  fact  that  some  pupils  are  overwork- 
ing at  the  same  task  that  others  find  mere 
play,  regardless  of  the  fact  that  the  slow 
ones  are  constantly  discouraged  and  the 
bright  ones  are  forming  habits  of  listless- 
ness,  there  is  no  room  left  for  the  exercise 
of  the  discretion  with  which  the  rural  edu- 
cator attempts  to  harmonize  these  inequaH- 
ties  and  to  reconcile  many  an  inconsistency. 
The  smaller  the  school  and  the  closer  the 
contact  of  teacher  and  pupil,  the  more  com- 
plex becomes  the  problem,  until,  in  some 
21 


11: 


22  SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT 

instances,  classes  cease  to  exist  altogether 
in  many  of  the  more  difticult  studies. 

While  wc  can  not  find  it  in  our  hearts  to 
retard  the  progress  of  some  exceptionally 
bright  pupils  we  should  not  forget  to  stir 
the  exceptionally  dull  ones  to  greater  effort 
to  keep  pace,  and  even  then  we  can  scarcely 
avoid  a  division  of  the  class  which  must  in- 
evitably come.  At  tliis  point,  when  it  is 
reached,  to  avoid  multiplying  classes,  I 
have  dropped  the  slower  pupils  into  the 
brighter  division  of  the  class  in  the  next 
lower  grade, — in  fact,  to  preserve  harmony 
in  the  homes  and  in  school,  have  made  this 
measure  an  apparent  elevation  of  the  bril- 
ants  into  a  higher  grade. 

Complicating  the  problem  in  rur.il 
schools  is  tjje  diversity  of  text-books,  ren- 
dering special  lessons  necessary.  After 
determining  the  grading  and  finding  many 
different  books  in  some  one  class,  I  have 
found  that  to  teach  without  a  book  was  a 
course  that,  while  it  necessitated  some  extra 
preparation,  obviated  the  necessity  for  sep- 
arate recitations. 

To  develop  a  recitation  and  not  have  it  a 
mere  fact-mill  for  a  two,  three,  or  five  min- 
utes revolution  turning  out  dust  and  ashes, 
one  must  have  time,  and  to  get  time  a  re- 
duction of  the  number  of  classes  and  an 
increase  of  general  exercises, — lessons  in 
which  the  greater  part  of  the  pupils  can 
join, — should  be  made. 

With  forty  classes,  with  varying  text- 


CLASSES  AND  DIVISIONS  23 

books,  inequalities  in  age,  attainment,  and 
ability,  and  with  special  subjects  asked  and 
needed  by  special  pupils,  —  with  forty 
classes,  or  thirty  classes  to  manage,  what 
justice  can  be  done  to  any  one  of  them,  or 
to  any  individual  in  any  one  of  them  ?  With 
a  doubling  up  of  some  of  the  classes,  with 
a  combination  of  correlated  subjects,  with 
a  discarding  of  some  extras  that  could  not 
be  continued,  with  a  revolution  that  deposed 
some  old,  cherished  methods  from  the  throne 
beneath  the  popular  dome  of  thought,  I 
was  not  spared  the  consequences  of  my  ig- 
norance and  mismanagement,  and  closed 
my  first  year  of  teaching  with  twenty 
classes  and  a  case  of  fever  that  made  me 
a  better  student  of  economy, — school  and 
physical  economy  combined. 

I  think  we  should  not  deny  ourselves  the 
privilege,  which  is  a  duty,  with  the  hberty 
we  have  in  this  country,  of  advancing  as 
far  as  possible  the  brighter  pupils,  nor  do 
I  think  we  should  deny  ourselves  the  pleas- 
ure of  stimulating  and  gratifying  some 
natural  talent  of  some  thoughtful  lad  or 
lass  with  a  special  subject  outside  of  the 
ordinary  curriculum,  provided  we  can  find 
the  time  for  it.  The  country  teacher  has 
an  added  responsibility  not  so  strongly  felt 
by  the  city  teacher.  The  main  burden  on 
the  mind  of  the  average  urban  teacher  is 
the  passing  of  a  certain  percentage  of  her 
grade  for  promotion,  knowing  that  the 
greater  need  of  her  pupils  will  be  supplied 


24  SCHOOL  MAN'AGEMENT 

in  the  order  of  their  ascent  toward  gradua- 
tion ;  but  the  rural  teacher  is  handling  all 
grades,  and,  if  true  to  her  trust,  is  ever 
yearning  to  awaken  the  spirit  that  is  like 
the  electric  flash  to  the  mingled  but  unseen 
gases,  unrealized,  uncentred,  and  uncon- 
trolled powers,  that  it  unites  into  a  crystal 
drop  reflecting  tiie  universe  and  dazzling 
with  a  brilliance  more  to  be  desired  and  be- 
yond that  of  the  diamond.  The  country 
teacher  has  the  responsibility  of  awakening 
and  centering  the  powers  and  ambitions  of 
"the  great  minds,  brave  hearts,  strong  and 
willing  hands  an  age  like  this  demands," 
and  this  responsibility  must  not  be  shirked 
or  neglected. 

There  is  a  class  of  pupils,  the  irregular 
ones,  who  multiply  classes  and  perplexities. 
They  are  a  class  to  Avhich  I  have  shown 
few  favors,  unless  the  pupils  were  unfor- 
tunately kept  out  of  school  by  necessity. 
That  being  the  case,  they  received  every 
attention  I  could  possibly  bestow  when 
they  were  able  to  attend.  Irregularity  is 
usually  the  fault  of  the  parents,  and  if  they 
do  not  have  more  interest  in  the  future  of 
their  children  than  to  allow  them  to  ignore 
advantages,  I  do  not  believe  it  is  the  teach- 
er's duty  to  retard  the  progress  of  others 
for  their  benefit. 

If  you  become  wise  unto  3'our  own  salva- 
tion and  institute  a  new  order,  make  use 
of  every  available  time-saving  method. 
You  may  fear  the  loss  of  popular  favor; 


CLASSES  AND   DIVISIONS  25 

but  duty  to  yourself  and  to  your  school 
may  demand  such  a  sacrifice,  which  will 
be  lighter  than  you  imagine.  In  fact,  a 
gain  in  favor  will  be  made  if  methods  in- 
telhgently  applied  bring,  as  they  will,  re- 
sults to  be  desired.  Find  comfort  in  Schil- 
ler's thought,  as  favor  is  accorded:  "If  by 
your  art  you  cannot  please  all,  content  the 
few.  To  please  the  multitude  is  bad." 
Among  "the  few"  count  yourself  the  first 
to  be  contented. 


V 

KEEPING    PUPILS    BUSY 

The  inexperienced  teaclier,  tho  "to  the 
manor  bom," — tho  thoroly  quaUfied  edu- 
cationally,— tho  zealous  and  conscientious, 
will  puzzle  over  the  spirit  of  unrest,  of  list- 
lessness,  of  consummate  deviltry  that  again 
and  again  will  pervade  the  school-room  to 
paralyze  endeavor  and  create  disorder. 
Often,  in  such  cases,  by  the  exercise  of  a 
little  ingenuity,  or  thru  a  knowledge  of 
common  helps  at  hand  or  easily  accessible, 
the  strain  on  nerves  could  be  relaxed  by 
occupying  the  wandering  or  exuberant 
energy  with  novel  and  educating  tasks. 

I  assume  that  we  all  realize  the  bearing 
on  good  order  and  good  work  that  is  had 
by  a  judicious  seating  of  the  pupils.  If 
our  seating  is  not  done  with  reference  to 
the  natures,  temperaments,  and  discovered 
habits,  which  we  desire,  in  a  measure,  to 
balance  by  bringing,  so  far  as  we  can,  op- 
posites  into  correcting  contact,  we  might 
plan  to  have  all  of  our  work  "busy  work" 
and  then  fail  of  attaining  the  object  at 
which  we  are  aiming. 

I  assume  also  that  we  have  our  higher 
grades  so  interested  in  the  "business"  of 
26 


KEEPING  PUPILS   BUSY  27 

school  that  we  are  seldom,  if  over,  forced 
to  resort  to  pedagogical  "sleight-of-hand" 
to  lure  them  back  into  the  path  of  rectitude. 

With  my  older  boys  and  girls,  I  have 
seldom  had  much  occasion  to  consider  the 
question,  aside  from  regular  tasks  present- 
ing sufficient  variety  in  the  course  of  prog- 
ress to  keep  them  "busy,"  But  occa- 
sionally I  have  had  pupils  who  were  extra- 
ordinary and  very  active,  and  have  suc- 
ceeded with  histoi'y  and  historical  romance 
in  keeping  them  interested  and  occupied  in 
moments  that  without  such  helps  would 
have  been  spent  in  idleness.  While  I  had 
no  regularly  appointed  reading  table,  such 
as  has  been  successfully  used  by  many 
teachers  and  is  to  be  recommended,  I  al- 
ways had  a  large  number  of  magazines  and 
the  better  class  of  papers  which  served  a 
good  purpose  for  those  able  to  make  use  of 
them  in  unoccupied  periods. 

The  nature  of  "busy  work"  in  the  lower 
grades  must  be  carefully  studied.  In  fact, 
the  teacher,  like  the  chess  player,  should 
make  no  move  for  which  he  cannot  clearly 
give  good  reasons.  He  should  aim  to  have 
this  "busy"  work  bear  on  the  evolution, — 
the  education,  of  the  child  mind.  Any- 
thing that  will  lead  pupils  to  think  while 
keeping  their  attention  and  occupying  their 
hands  ;  anything  that  will  lead  to  a  cultiva- 
tion of  the  senses,  quickening  sight,  touch, 
smell,  taste ;  anything  developing  ingenuity 
and  an  exercise  of  the  powers  of  observa- 


28  SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT 

tion  and  expression  is  permissible  and  only 
advisable.  But  anything  done  without  a 
method  under  the  seeming  "madness" — as 
much  of  this  play  with  sticks,  pictures  and 
color  and  letter  cards  would  be  called  in 
rural  districts, — anytliing  done  merely  to 
kill  and  not  beneficially  to  fill  time,  would 
better  be  left  undone,  as  it  would  tend  to 
shatter  the  powers  which  it  is  desired  to 
strengthen  and  concentrate. 

It  is  not  permitted  me  here  to  go  into 
detail  regarding  helps  or  apparatus  for 
"busy  work."  There  are  many  excellent 
works  published  on  the  subject  and  much 
assistance  will  be  found  in  the  pages  of 
Teachers  Magazine,  where  also  stimulus 
to  individual  and  oinginal  invention  will  be 
found.  Let  me  say  that  it  is  not  necessary 
to  have  expensive  paraphernalia,  for  good 
results  can  be  gotten  from  a  bundle  of 
twigs  or  a  handful  of  pebbles  gathered  on 
the  school  grounds.  If  helps  are  not  at 
hand  the  resourceful  teacher  will  not  be 
long  without  substitutes  improvised  from 
materials  available.  Let  us  strive  for 
adaptability  and  the  fullest  development  of 
intelligence. 

The  true  artist  takes  a  Httle  pigment,  a 
brush,  and  a  stretcher  of  canvas,  and,  after 
a  little,  rounds  out  an  object  of  beauty  that 
is  pleasant  to  contemplate.  The  savage 
potentate  would  knock  a  hole  in  the  canvas, 
wear  the  stretcher  around  his  neck,  stick 
the  brush  thru  liis  nose,  plaster  the  pigment 


KEEPIXG   ruriLS   BUSY  29 

on  his  person  and  make  himself  superla- 
tively ridiculous  with  the  misused  materials. 
Let  us  strive  to  be  artists. 


VI 

RECESSES 

The  need  of  a  recess  in  the  middle  of  a 
session  or  the  hick  of  it,  is  somethinf^  of  an 
indication  of  the  quahty  of  the  teacliing  in 
a  schooL  If  the  teacher  be  an  old-fash- 
ioned routinist,  a  dull  and  prosy  parrot 
trainer,  his  little  pollies  will  get  tired  of 
repeating  their  want  of  a  cracker,  and  then 
the  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  of  relaxation  will 
be  found  to  be  an  absolute  necessity.  But, 
on  the  other  hand,  if  the  teacher  is  wide 
awake  and  up-to-date  and  makes  every  mo- 
ment of  the  session  interesting,  little  need 
of  the  intermission  will  be  found,  as  the 
recreation  that  conies  of  a  change  of  occu- 
pation will  be  continuously  enjoyed.  Under 
such  a  teacher  the  "rush"  at  recess  is  not 
a  "storming  out  to  play,"  but  is  a  gather- 
ing about  the  teacher's  desk  to  glean  more 
of  that  which  has  been  dropped  during  the 
period,  or  a  grouping  of  classes  for  a  com- 
parison of  notes,  so  that  nothing  of  that  in 
wliich  the  interest  has  been  centered  may 
be  lost. 

In  many  of  the  iniral  districts  it  would 
be  an  unpardonable  heresy  for  the  teacher 
to  discontinue  recesses.     I,  therefore,  never 
30 


RECESSES  31 

left  the  regulation  allotment  of  playtime 
off  the  schedule,  but  left  the  matter  to  be 
decided  by  a  vote  of  the  school ;  and,  hap- 
pily, almost  invariably  a  large  majority 
decided  to  continue  sessions  without  inter- 
missions. In  a  way,  I  have  measured  my 
influence  and  usefulness  in  a  school  by  this 
delicate  but  unmistalcable  barometer,  the 
popular  will. 

In  winter,  when  country  schools  are  the 
largest,  I  seldom  had  more  than  a  brief 
breathing  moment  when  the  school-room 
was  thrown  open  for  needed  ventilation  and 
as  quickly  closed  for  a  resumption  of  work. 
When  the  season  changed,  and  the  weather 
became  milder,  and  the  school  reduced  to 
an  attendance  of  the  younger  children,  the 
recesses  became  longer  and  more  regularly 
an  institution,  and  on  very  warm  or  very 
fine  days  often  a  full  fifteen  minutes'  al- 
lowance was  given. 

As  in  me  country  very  young  children 
are  sent  to  school  to  remain  there  all  day, 
to  relieve  them  of  inevitable  weariness,  I 
gave  them  frequent  and  lengthy  play  spells 
out  of  doors  when  the  weather  permitted, 
allowing  them  their  own  will  as  to  when 
they  should  return.  I  seldom  had  to  call 
them ;  for,  tiring  of  play,  or  curious  to 
know  what  was  going  on  in  the  school- 
room, they  would  steal  quietly  in  and  up 
to  their  seats,  and  surprise  me  by  being 
there,  where  I  had  not  expected  them,  when 
wanted  for  an  exercise. 


32  SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT 

When  I  first  began  teaching,  I  was  prim 
enougli  aiul  foolish  enough  to  imagine  that 
boys  and  girls  should  not  be  allowetl  to 
have  recesses  together,  and  consequently 
deprived  myself  of  the  aiding  corrective 
that  resides  in  a  mingling  of  the  sexes,  and 
had  a  sterner  struggle  to  keep  the  order 
and  morale  of  the  school  at  par.  Of  course, 
circumstances  may  sometimes  be  such  that 
it  would  be  better  to  have  separate  recesses, 
but  they  are  a  nuisance  and  a  relic  of  that 
barbarism  that  excluded  women  from  male 
assemblages, — perhaps  wisely  in  the  middle 
ages,  because  the  action  and  the  conversa- 
tion of  the  Launcelots  and  Galahads  were 
far  from  fit  to  be  witnessed  by  the  Viviens 
and  the  Guiniveres.  Happily  a  higher 
chivalry  has  been  developed,  with  a  loftier 
conception  and  a  more  earnest  and  intelli- 
gent quest  of  the  Grail,  than  was  possessed 
by  the  knights  who  reveled  at  the  round 
table. 

Any  privilege  or  any  usage  in  school 
management  should  be  considered  in  its  re- 
lation to  the  physical,  mental,  and  moral 
well-being  of  the  pupils ;  and  in  the  matter 
of  recesses,  in  my  mind,  they  are  only  ad- 
visable when  the  pupils  have  been  prepared 
to  make  the  best  use  of  them.  In  spring, 
summer,  or  autumn,  if  your  boys  and  girls 
use  the  few  moments  in  wildly  rushing 
themselves  into  a  heat  and  excitement  that 
require  an  hour  to  reduce  to  normal  temper- 
ature and  calm,  then  recesses  are  more  of 


RECESSES  DO 

a  detriment  than  a  benefit,  and  regardless 
of  prejudice  I  should  discontinue  the  lib- 
erty until  I  could  educate  the  pupils  in  a 
proper  use  of  play  time  and  up  to  an  ap- 
preciation of  the  privilege.  It  would  be 
vastly  better  in  winter  for  the  pupils  to 
remain  in  the  school-room  if  they  know  no 
better  than  to  deliberately  wet  their  feet, 
or  if  they  snowball  until  half  frozen  and 
have  to  spend  an  hour  perched  about  the 
stove  drying  and  warming,  or,  escaping 
notice,  have  to  sit  thru  the  remainder  of 
the  session  uncomfortable,  with  their  health 
in  jeopardy,  and  unfitted  to  carry  on  the 
work  which  is  the  main  object  of  their 
presence  at  school.  All  work  and  no  play 
makes  Jack  a  dull  boy,  indeed;  but  if  in 
any  way  Jack's  play  impairs  his  capability 
for  work,  it  is  better  that  he  run  the  risk 
of  becoming  dull. 

For  weeks  together  my  recesses  were  mo- 
mentary affairs  for  ventilation,  to  avoid  the 
"Please-may-I-go-out  .f"'  nuisance,  and  the 
forming  of  the  terrible  and  contagious 
drink  habit,  and  for  a  brief  and  rapid 
preparation  for  the  work  to  be  continued; 
and  this  was  not  in  obedience  to  the  ukase 
of  despotism,  but  in  submission,  as  Has 
been  intimated,  to  vox  populi  in  a  little  gov- 
ernment whose  motto  was  Pro  Bono  Publico. 


VII 
UNIFYING  THE  SCHOOL 

In  every  country  community  there  are 
more  "sets"  than  sects ; — in  truth,  there 
are  usually  several  sets  in  each  sect,  and 
am  sorry  to  say  it,  but  it  is  true,  each  "set" 
secretly  carries  a  chip  on  its  shoulder  for 
all  of  the  others.  Yet  there  is  occasion  for 
hope,  for  all  kneel  on  the  Sabbath  and  with 
one  accord  beseech  deliverance  from  "envy, 
hatred,  malice,  and  all  uncharitableness," 
and  implore  forgiveness  for  their  "enemies, 
persecutors,  and  slanderers."  There  is 
usually  no  open  hostility  among  the  fac- 
tions, and  the  casual  obserA^er  would  de- 
clare the  community  to  be  in  a  state  of 
idyllic  calm  and  accord ;  but  the  doctor  and 
the  school-master  know  only  too  well  that 
this  calm  is  the  calm  before  a  possible 
storm, — the  strained  stillness  of  an  armed 
neutrality,  whose  masked  batteries  are 
manned  (should  I  have  said  "womaned"?) 
and  ready  for  terrific  and  pitiless  carnage 
at  a  moment's  notice.  Like  parents,  like 
pupils.  Mrs.  Jones  barely  nods  to  Mrs. 
Brown  in  public,  and  in  private  they  criti- 
cise and  condemn  each  other  without  mercy. 
34 


UNIFYING    THE    SCHOOL  35 

Their  children,  lacking,  thank  heaven!  the 
"discretion"  of  the  parents,  fight  openly, 
or  openly  refuse  to  associate. 

There  is  one  in  town  with  the  scar  of  an 
indiscretion  as  much  in  evidence  as  tho  she 
wore  Hester  Prynne's  scarlet  letter  on  her 
breast.  Her  fatherless  child  goes  to  school, 
— an  innocent  boy,  and  such  was  the  King 
of  Kings, — and  the  school  becomes  Sanhe- 
drim and  Roman  tribunal  in  one  and  would 
crucify  him.  The  children  of  the  rich  mill 
owner  and  the  children  of  the  fanner  wear 
better  clothes  and  have  better  lunches  than 
the  other  cliildren  and  also  have  not  a  little 
money  to  spend  at  the  store  for  sweets. 
With  a  following  of  sycophants,  they  form 
a  "set"  and  become  as  important  and  as 
supercilious  as  it  is  possible  to  become,  even 
tho  unstimulated  in  this  direction  by  home 
example  and  influence.  The  editor's,  the 
lawyer's,  and  the  minister's  boys  and  girls 
form  the  brainy  "set"  and  put  on  airs  ac- 
cordingly, and  from  necessity  of  self-pro- 
tection, the  poor  and  the  dull  boys  and  girls 
ally  themselves  to  one  or  another  of  the 
dominant  factions  or  become  tribes  or  in- 
dividual representatives  of  the  house  of 
Ishmael,  Without  going  farther  we  have 
factors  enough  for  a  problem  of  "unifica- 
tion" that  is  as  difficult  to  solve  as  is  the 
one  you  give  the  "smart"  boy  on  the  rela- 
tion between  the  cost  of  a  jackknife  and  the 
number  of  cubic  feet  in  a  brash  heap ;  and 
if,  like  the  lad,  we  are  unable  to  solve  it,  we 


36  .SCIIOOI.  MANAGEMENT 

in  tlic  ciul  will  be  made  to  feel  as  clieap 
as  ho. 

We  have  the  factors,  but  where  arc  the 
parentheses  for  uniting  thcni  in  one, — we 
have  tlie  elements,  but  how  shall  we  combine 
them  in  one  smooth,  homogenous  fluid,  in 
which  each  will  have  lost  its  peculiar  un- 
pleasant property  and  will  have  gained  in 
the  mingling  an  added  quality  of  strength 
for  tlie  mellifluous  liquid, — a  harmonious 
and  united  school? 

Several  years  ago,  I  was  called  to  a 
neighborhood  that  had  been  in  a  state  of 
internecine  discord  for  over  twenty  years. 
I  was  told  that  I  would  not  stay  there  six 
months,  as  many  an  older  and  more  ex- 
perienced teacher  had  won  only  the  title 
"yearling"  in  the  ungracious  community. 
I  found  on  getting  acquainted  that  the  peo- 
ple were  not  as  bad  as  they  had  been  pic- 
tured,— that  they  were  an  average  aggre- 
gation with  the  aims  and  interests  and 
ideals  usual  to  dwellers  in  isolated  localities, 
but  that,  for  some  forgotten  reason  of  of- 
fense or  injury,  every  man's  hand  was 
against  every  other  man's,  and  noighborli- 
ness  and  the  graces  of  kindness  and  good 
will  that  make  life  in  the  country  endurable 
were  unkiiown.  I  found  there  were  about 
as  many  feuds  as  there  were  families,  and 
that  Killkenny  kittens  were  the  products  of 
this  condition,  and  with  them  I  had  to  deal. 
I  began  with  a  strict  impartiality,  making 
as  much  of  one  as  of  another,  and  said  not 


UNIFYING   THE    SCHOOL  37 

a  word  to  anyone  about  anybody.  I  did  not 
recognize  that  discord  existed,  and  inno- 
cently (?)  devised  plans  that  took  the  chil- 
dren of  one  family  into  the  home  af  an- 
other. By  constant  care  and  watchfulness 
that  thwarted  any  attempt  at  meanness  on 
the  part  of  one  youthful  coterie  to  another, 
and  by  joining  in  and  directing  many 
tilings  of  a  social  nature  among  the  older 
boys  and  girls,  they  came  to  forget,  in  my 
constant  example  and  earnest  teaching  on 
the  topic,  that  one  was  not  as  good  as  an- 
other, and  to  learn  that  spiteful  bickerings 
were  unprofitable  and  prevented  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  pleasure  and  profit  to  be  ob- 
tained thru  a  community  of  interests  and 
action.  I  could  reach  the  community  only 
thru  the  children,  as  I  could  not  call  on  all 
and  therefore  called  on  none ;  but  I  was 
assisted  in  an  unexpected  way  by  a  young 
evangelist,  who,  happily,  organized  a  so- 
ciety of  the  undenominational  Christian 
Endeavor,  and  this  soon  worked  in  the 
home  what  I  was  working  in  the  school,  and 
I  am  told  that  to  this  day  there  is  no  hurt 
or  destruction  in  that  little  rural  mount, — 
that  the  lion  and  the  lamb  still  lie  down 
together. 

I  taught  lessons  of  a  practical  broadness 
that  made  any  smallness  or  meanness  seem 
beneath  the  boys  and  girls.  I  taught  a 
charity  that  overlooks  defects  of  body  or 
of  character, — that  inspires  pity  for  and 
tenderness    toward    the    unfortunate    and 


i38  SCHOOI,  MANAGKMENT 

gives  birth  to  the  desire  to  help  better  by 
kindness  and  consideration  the  condition 
of  all  with  whom  daily  contact  is  a  neces- 
sity. I  tauf^jht  Kuskin,  and,  tho  unworthy, 
1  taufjfht  Christ;  and  of  the  four  years  that 
1  taught  in  that  connnunity,  I  had  three 
years  and  more  of  a  Jharmony  that  in  many 
of  its  resolutions  was  satisfying  to  the  soul 
thru  sights  seen  and  sounds  heard.  Every 
discord  but  one  was  a  "discord  of  the 
seventh"  that  added  strength  and  beauty 
to  the  symphony  of  the  years. 

Need  I  add,  in  closing,  that  the  teacher 
must  infuse  himself  into  his  school,  his  com- 
munity, in  uniting  factions, — need  I  add 
that  it  is  love,  divine  love,  that  is  just  as 
iw^ell  as  merciful,  that  alone  is  able  to  unite 
antagonisms  in  such  a  manner  that  each 
loses  its  disagreeable  elements? 


VIII 
PARENTAL    CO-OPERATION 

Without  support  in  the  home,  the  few 
hours  of  influence  in  the  school  will  scarcely 
suffice  to  counteract  the  many  hours  of  re- 
laxed discipline  outside.  "We  plan  for  our 
powers  the  divinest  we  can, — we  do  with  our 
powers  the  supremest  we  may,"  and  then 
are  discouraged  because  we  do  not  succeed, 
• — because  there  is  a  counter  current  of  op- 
position,— an  eddy  unseen,  that  snatches 
success  out  of  the  swift  flow  of  our  zeal  and 
delays  it  in  idle  circlings  until  we  are  in 
despair. 

To  keep  your  school  together,  proving 
that  you  are  master  of  the  situation,  over- 
riding opposition,  superior  to  fear  and  not 
to  be  bribed  by  favor,  is  a  very  difficult  task 
to  accomplish  gracefully,  the  while  you  are 
striving  to  keep  free  from  bitterness  toward 
betrayers  and  attempting  to  win  their 
esteem. 

"There  are  two  ways  to  victory,"  says 
Thoreau,  "to  strive,  or  to  yield ;"  and  while 
it  is  not  in  exact  harmony  with  the  meaning 
of  the  hermit  of  Maiden  Pond,  yet,  in  these 
days,  many  teachers  are  holding  their  posi- 
tions seemingly  in  great  favor  thru  yield- 
39 


40  SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT 

ing  to  the  caprices  of  tlicir  pupils,  know- 
ing tliat  tlie  children  are  the  rulers  in  many 
of  the  homes.  But  what  becomes  of  con- 
science and  that  happiness  which  is  the 
true  reward  of  duty  well  done, — what,  when 
this  tide  of  false  j)oj)ularity  turns,  as  it 
surely  will  ?  There  is  another  way  of  yield- 
ing,— probably  the  one  intended  by  the 
great  naturalist, — expressed  by  Espinoza: 
"He  who  lives  according  to  reason,  endeav- 
ors to  the  utmost  of  his  powers  to  outweigh 
another  man's  hate,  anger,  or  despite 
against  him  with  love  or  high-mindcdness. 
He  who  chooses  to  avenge  wrong  by  re- 
quiting it  with  hatred,  is  assuredly  miser- 
able. But  he  who  strives  to  cast  out  hatred 
by  love,  may  fight  his  fight  in  joy  and  con- 
fidence. As  for  those  he  doth  conquer,  they 
yield  to  him  joyfull}^  and  that  not  because 
their  strength  faileth,  but  because  it  is  in- 
creased." 

In  every  community  there  are  people  who 
look  upon  the  teacher  as  the  natural  enemy 
of  their  children  and  vigorously  uphold 
them  in  any  misdemeanor  or  impudence, 
and  listen  raptly  to  the  wildest  misrepre- 
sentations. Tho  having  repeatedly  pun- 
ished unmercifully  their  children  for  mis- 
chief and  falsifying,  they  inconsistently 
deny  the  teacher  the  exercise  of  even  the 
mildest  forms  of  corrective.  We  all  know 
that  the  average  child  is  a  little  angel ;  but 
we  also  have  a  misty  reminiscence  of  the 
early  days  of  Lucifer.     There  are  the  peo- 


PARENTAL  CO-OPERATION  41 

pie  who  do  not  think  it  necessary  for  their 
children  to  attend  school  regularly,  and 
who  think  that  punctuality  is  far  from 
being  an  absolute  necessity.  There  are 
those  who  neglect,  day  after  day,  to  pro- 
vide proper  books  for  their  cliildrcn, — 
there  are  those  who  wanted  some  other 
teacher  hired  and  are  trying  their  very 
best  to  make  life  as  nearly  unbearable  for 
the  present  incumbent  as  they  can ;  and, 
thank  goodness !  there  are  those  who,  if  he 
deserves  it,  stand  at  the  teacher's  back  thru 
thick  and  thin,  and  without  whom  in  many 
instances  life  would  be  almost  unbearable. 
This  latter  class  are  among  the  old-fash- 
ioned folk  who  believe  that  children  should 
be  seen  and  not  heard  at  all  times, — who 
believe  In  having  not  only  the  respect,  but 
also  the  love  and  confidence  of  their  chil- 
dren,— who  see  that  their  children  keep 
good  company  and  are  at  home  after 
nightfall, — who  know  how  lessons  have 
been  learned  and  recited  at  school  thru 
daily  interest  in  school  work,  who  discour- 
age tale-bearing  with  Its  fungi  of  exagger- 
ation, and  who  strive  in  every  way  to  aid 
instead  of  to  multiply  the  cares  of  the  in- 
structor. 

How  to  gain  the  co-operation  of  the  op- 
position and  still  retain  dignity,  self-re- 
spect, and  supreme  control  Is  the  problem. 
Some  teachers  yield,  but  not  in  the  manner 
first  instanced  at  the  outset  of  this  brief 
talk,   biit,    apparently,    by    not   declaring 


V2  SCHOOL  ."^lANAGK.MKXT 

open  war.  Thru  finnncss  and  the  exercise 
of  inherent  qualities  of  attraction,  they 
finally  draw  unto  themselves  a  following 
that  is  productive  of  books  far  the  bookless, 
of  notes  of  explanation  and  apology  for 
detained  pupils,  of  demands  for  severe  cor- 
rection for  the  obstreperous,  of  bouquets 
for  the  desk,  and  of  invitations  that  turn 
life  from  funeral  marches  to  the  grave  into 
an  endless  procession  of  triumph  in  which, 
so  to  speak,  each  former  enemy  is  at  the 
teacher's  chariot  tail,  so  scorched  are  they 
in  mind  by  the  particular  brand  of  coals 
that  have  been  heaped  upon  their  heads. 

Love  and  patience  are  virtues  only  up  to 
a  certain  point,  and  when  they  have  been 
exhausted  they  are  vices,  weakening  and 
degrading.  Open  war  is  sometimes  inevi- 
table, and  what  cannot  be  gained  thru  uni- 
versal and  uniform  courtesy, — thru  warm- 
hearted interest  in  pupils  and  parents, — 
thru  evident  good  fellowship  and  ever  ap- 
parent sincerity  and  ability,  can  often  be 
gained  by  a  bold  stand  on  dignity  and 
authority, — by  an  exhibition  of  the  right- 
eous wrath  that  drove  the  desecrators  from 
the  temple  and  that  restored  the  peace  and 
the  sanctity  that  had  been  profaned.  A 
friend  of  mine,  who  had  traveled  in  the 
west  in  the  days  of  the  gold  fever  and  who 
had  seen  a  deal  of  rough  life,  used  to  say : 
"Never  argue  with  a  drunken  man ;  if  he 
insults  you,  knock  him  down, — it  will  sober 
him  into  a  repentance  for  the  meanness  he 


PARENTAL  CO-OPERATION  43 

felt  toward  you  and  didn't  dare  perpetrate 
when  he  was  sober."  People  drunken  with 
envy,  hatred,  or  conceit  need  knock  down 
arguments  often  to  insure  you  from  im- 
munity from  insult. 

The  principle  to  be  maintained  is  the 
kind  of  dignity  most  admired  in  your  com- 
munity. Attempt  to  satisfy  the  people 
thoroly  that  you  are  first  competent  and 
then  kind, — that  you  wnsh  to  be  friendly 
with  everybody, — that  you  are  not  a  prig 
or  a  snob,  but  a  good  fellow, — that  your 
interests  are  the  interests  of  the  community, 
and  that  you  are  willing  to  go  more  than 
half  way  to  be  friendly  and  helpful;  and, 
somehow,  the  obstiniction  sand  and  gravel 
will  work  out  of  life's  little  stream,  and  you 
will  glide  on  to  a  degree  of  success  that  will 
be  gratifying  and  compensating. 


IX 

ASSISTANCE  FROM  PUTILS 

When  I  was  a  lad,  I  attended  a  sdiool 
in  which  I  was  one  of  the  teachers  and  in 
which  nearly  all  of  the  "big  boys"  and 
"big  girls"  took  turns  in  running  things. 
The  neighborhood  did  not  appreciate  our 
efforts,  however  kindly  put  forth,  and  when 
the  term  closed,  our  master  was  gathered 
unto  Ills  predecessors  and  another  iniled  in 
his  stead.  Remembering  this  when  I  came 
to  teach,  only  when  closely  pressed  for  time 
and  for  some  easily-managed  recitation,  did 
I  ever  call  on  ray  older  pupils  for  assist- 
ance, and  I  have  had  many  that  have  made 
good  teachers  and  who  are  to-day  in  the 
profession,  which  they  are  ornamenting. 

In  each  school  where  I  have  been,  I  have 
been  so  fortunate  as  to  have  among  the 
pupils  one  or  more  of  those  large-hearted, 
womanly  girls, — the  material  from  Avhich 
good  mothers  are  made, — who  shared  with 
me  the  respect  of  all,  and  who  quietly  gath- 
ered the  little  ones  under  her  wings,  and 
with  the  softening,  soothing  influence  that 
only  a  good  woman  can  exert,  has  smoothed 
the  rough  places,  made  the  crooked  paths 
straight,  and  has  driven  away  the  showers 
44 


ASSISTANCE  FROM  PUPILS  45 

by  the  sunlight  of  hor  presence.  Having 
the  affection  of  the  wayward,  to  whom  her 
example  is  a  corrective,  she  is  a  valuable 
aid  and  worthy  of  confidence  and  every 
privilege  that  can  be  granted.  She  is  the 
girl  to  whom  you  can  safely  send  the  little 
and  even  the  larger  folk  for  a  recitation 
when  time  presses.  Do  not  let  the  interest 
and  pleasure  manifested  by  your  pupils 
under  her  ministration  make  you  jealous, 
for  she  merits  a  nobler  sentiment.  We  all 
know  this  girl,  but  do  we  all  make  the 
developing  use  of  her  that  we  could  and 
should.''  Do  we  strengthen  her,  or  do  we 
estrange.'' 

How  many  of  us  have  a  secret  service 
bureau.''  How  many  of  us  have  the  dis- 
cretion and  the  self-control  necessary  for 
making  a  service  "secret"  and  effective; 
and  how  many  of  us  have  the  tact  necessary 
for  properly  using  boys  and  girls  as  de- 
tectives without  letting  them  know  they  are 
youthful  Pinkertons .''  Do  you  make  a 
handle  of  tattling?  If  you  do,  you  en- 
courage a  spirit  that  makes  liars  of  your 
pupils  and  will  make  you  distrusted  and 
disrespected  by  everybody.  Haven't  you 
had  boys  and  girls  in  whom  you  confided, 
with  whom  you  held  confidential  conversa- 
tions about  the  school  and  the  pupils,  who 
gave  you,  if  you  have  the  art  of  hearing 
words  between  words,  "pointers"  about 
things  of  which  you  never  dreamed  and 
which  forewarned  you  of  threatened  dis- 


40  SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT 

orders  or  enabled  you  to  correct  abuses 
that  had  existed  without  your  knowledge? 
In  a  word,  are  you  "one  of  the  boys" — 
one  of  the  ^irls, — yourself,  while  being  the 
cautious  and  watchful  teacher  almost  un- 
consciously underneath?  If  you  are,  then 
you  are  the  chief  of  a  secret  service  bureau, 
who  will  often  surprise  the  school  and  the 
community  by  courses  of  action  that  will 
show  that  you  "know  what  is  in  the  wind" 
and  will  win  the  "well  done"  of  the  gods 
of  the  rural  community  expressed  in  the 
words,  "He  was  up  to  snuff." 

I  have  always  made  it  a  point  to  study 
the  special  talents  or  bents  of  my  pupils 
and  to  elevate  ( ?)  them  to  "positions  of 
trust  and  responsibility"  for  which  they 
seemed  best  fitted  for  the  good  of  our  little 
school  commune.  Some  of  my  girls  have 
been  musical.  Such  played  the  organ  or  the 
piano  for  marching  and  for  opening  and 
other  exercises,  and  diversified  our  daily 
program  with  solos  and  duos  on  invitation 
or  vote  of  the  school.  Some  of  my  boys 
have  been  mechanical  in  turn,  and  such 
have  been  allowed  to  do  odd  jobs  of  tinker- 
ing, or  make  some  simple  device  or  appa- 
ratus needed  for  some  lesson. 

One  of  my  boys  in  a  certain  school  was 
a  natural-bom  artist.  By  universal  con- 
sent, he  had  control  of  one  blackboard,  and 
never  less  than  three  times  a  week  he  spent 
a  part  of  the  noon  hour  in  materializing 
his  ideas  in  various  colors.    As  an  instance: 


ASSISTANCE  FROM  PUPILS  47 

One  day  I  came  in,  and  there  was  the  then 
celebrated  locomotive  "999,"  with  coaches 
attached  ready  to  steam  out  of  the  Grand 
Central  station  on  her  flight  to  Buffalo. 
Here  was  a  cliance  for  an  interesting  lesson 
not  to  be  lost,  as  the  children  seldom  saw 
a  locomotive,  being  miles  from  any  railroad. 
On  the  birthdays  we  celebrated,  he  would 
reproduce  portraits  and  views  in  connection 
with  them  with  marvelous  skill,  and  in  these 
ways  made  himself  a  valuable  and  a  valued 
ally.  Three  times  a  week  I  counted  on  his 
aid  for  some  subject  for  a  brief  opening 
lesson ;  and  he,  being  of  an  earnest  and 
thoughtful  nature,  and  a  thoroly  good  boy, 
I  seldom  made  a  suggestion  for  his  work, 
or  put  any  condition  of  restraint  upon  his 
eff^orts.  I  kept  a  list  of  subjects  from 
which  to  conduct  an  occasional  review.  Per- 
haps it  would  have  been  better  to  have 
guided  this  boy's  efforts  into  a  connected 
series ;  but  I  felt  that  his  genius  was  spon- 
taneous, and  that  the  element  of  novelty 
in  each  surprise  in  this  lack  of  system  was 
better,  because  it  gave  the  task  of  develop- 
ing the  lesson  he  set  for  us  an  interest  of 
the  extemporaneous,  inspiring  both  teacher 
and  pupil  to  their  best  effort. 

Do  your  pupils  do  jury  duty.?  You  may 
not  be  aware  of  it,  but  they  do  settle  every 
case  that  comes  before  the  pedagogical 
tribunal,  and  try  not  only  the  culprit,  but 
the  judge  and  executor  of  the  court's  de- 
crees, and  woe  to  the  one  or  to  the  other  if 


48  SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT 

anger  instead  of  clue  mercy  tempers  jus- 
tice, if  the  tyrant  instead  of  the  teacher 
pronounces  tlie  sentence  and  inflicts  the 
penalt}' !  Knowin^^f  this,  I  have  used  my 
pupils  as  a  bench  of  judf^es  for  trying 
cases,  allowing  a  discussion  of  the  crime 
(?)  and  for  fixing  the  proper  degree  and 
the  nature  of  the  expiation  to  be  demanded ; 
and  I  found  strength  in  adapting  our  civics 
lessons  to  the  government  of  our  little  re- 
public. 

I  have  always  had  a  ministry  or  cabinet 
composed  of  my  better,  more  intelligent 
pupils  with  whom  I  have  discussed  school 
polity  and  considered  plans ;  and  thus  have 
won  a  co-operation  and  assistance  that 
could  have  been  gained  in  no  other  way, 
and  without  for  one  moment  degrading  my 
dignity  or  losing  the  essential  leadership 
and  control. 


JOURNALISM  IN   A  DISTRICT 
SCHOOL 

The  idea  of  a  school  paper,  or  review,  is 
not  a  new  one.  This  class  of  periodical 
usually  has  for  its  object  the  preservation 
of  class  gossip,  or  outlines  the  work  and 
relates  the  occurrences  of  the  school  com- 
munity of  which  it  is  the  mouthpiece.  But 
The  Maple  Grove  Gazette,  of  which  I  shall 
speak  briefly,  was  a  semi-monthly  news- 
paper having  for  its  editors  and  reporters 
the  school  children  of  an  isolated  country 
district.  The  only  part  I  took  in  the  affair 
was  that  of  censor-manager,  thoroughly  be- 
lieving in  the  wisdom  of  the  French  in  in- 
stituting such  an  office,  provided,  of  course, 
its  privileges  are  not  abused. 

I  secured  as  editor-in-chief  a  girl  of  six- 
teen who  had  displayed  much  good  taste 
in  the  selection  of  her  reading,  and  whose 
efforts  in  composition  had  clearly  indicated 
a  desire  for  saying  the  most  in  the  fewest 
words.  There  were  others  in  the  school 
who  had  livelier  fancies  in  producing,  but 
I  felt  they  were  not  to  be  implicitly  trusted 
to  keep  the  erratic  staff  within  bounds  and 
to  enforce  rigidly  the  rules  of  purity,  per- 
4.9 


\ 


50  SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT 

spicacity,  and   jjioprict}',  on   wliosc  strict 
observance  we  insisted. 

The  editor  carefully  perused  the  pile  of 
papers  I  kept  on  my  desk,  among  whicli  was 
Our  Times,  on  wliose  columns  of  condensed 
matter  tremendous  onslaughts  were  made 
with  the  shears.  The  Scientific  American, 
Harpers  Weekly,  The  Youth's  Compan- 
ion, St.  Nicholas,  The  Ladies'  Home 
Journal,  The  American  Agriculturist,  The 
Country  Gentleman,  and  Good  Housekeep- 
ing, to  say  nothing  of  local  and  other  minor 
publication  too  numerous  to  mention,  were 
the  mines  from  which  the  boys  and  girls  in 
their  homes  drew  forth  treasure  and  gems 
for  our  bi-monthly  enrichment. 

At  recess,  if  we  were  having  recesses,  or 
at  noon  and  after  school,  the  editor  would 
confer  with  her  staff,  and  one  or  another 
would  gravely  discuss  with  her  the  chances 
this  matter  or  that  would  have  of  being 
generally  interesting  or  profitable  to  the 
subscribers,  as  they  fancifully  termed  the 
pupils  of  the  school. 

One  week  would  be  devoted  tx)  this  sort 
of  preparation,  and  then  the  editor  would 
make  out  a  table  of  contents  for  the  next 
issue,  and  on  my  approval  the  subjects 
would  be  assigned  to  the  several  assistants. 
No  article  was  allowed  to  be  copied.  It  had 
to  be  rewritten  from  memory,  after  its  main 
features  had  been  assimilated  by  a  careful 
reading,  and  had  to  be  expressed  in  the 
pupil's  own.  language. 


JOURNALISM  IN  A  DISTRICT  SCHOOL      51 

Others  would  be  detailed  to  gather  brief 
news  items  of  the  immediate  vicinity ;  and 
here  the  utmost  care  had  to  be  exercised, 
for  gossip  of  the  petty,  rural  sort  would 
often  creep  in,  and  this  had  to  be  sup- 
pressed, or  our  paper  and  our  school  would 
have  gone  to  pieces  in  a  hurry,  I  think 
in  this  one  department  a  most  valuable 
work  was  done;  for  boys  and  girls  were 
taught,  as  they  could  be  most  easily,  their 
duty  to  their  neighbor  in  a  practical  appli- 
cation of  the  Golden  Rule,  that  is  the  one 
essential  element  in  producing  harmony  in 
a  country  community. 

Boys  and  girls  are  not  devoid  of  a  sense 
of  humor,  by  any  means,  and  early  efforts 
at  being  funny  in  the  paper  were  rather 
painful.  Without  the  clearer  discrimina- 
tion and  taste  that  come  with  culture,  a 
coarseness  pervaded  their  fun  that  was  in- 
excusable. This  again  offered  a  sure  means 
of  elevation  morally  and  intellectually,  for 
expurgation  and  the  reason  for  it  soon 
taught  that  nothing  should  be  amusing 
that  contains  the  slightest  double  entente, 
or  that  is  rough  and  impure  in  expression. 

When  the  telegraph  editor  had  culled  the 
most  important  news  from  his  "ticker,"  a 
New  York  semi-weekly, — when  the  poetry 
editor  had  chpped  or  copied  those  verses 
that  had  appealed  to  his  growing  apprecia- 
tion of  beauty, — when  all  of  the  various  de- 
partments had  fulfilled  their  functions, 
then  the  chief  took  the  mass  of  manuscript 


52  SCirOOI.  MAXAGKMEXT 

in  Imnd  and  went  tlirou<rli  it  carefully  to 
note,  mark,  and  make  suggestions  for  elimi- 
nations and  corrections,  and  I  have  had  the 
pleasure  of  having  whole  stanzas  of  my  own 
verso,  published  annonymously,  crossed  out 
by  the  inexorable  blue  pencil  in  the  hands 
of  the  clear-eyed  girl,  who,  unconscious  of 
the  author's  identity,  asked  liim  if  he  didn't 
think  the  lines  were  somewhat  superfluous, 
when  we  together  went  through  the  work 
for  a  final  examination. 

On  Friday  afternoon,  tlie  items  of  the 
issue  having  been  arranged,  under  their 
departmental  headings,  the  editor  would 
read  the  aggregation  to  the  school,  each 
member  of  which  was  eager  to  hear  what 
the  others  had  written,  and  an  interest 
grew  that  incited  a  rivalry  as  to  who  could 
find  and  best  re-write  the  most  interesting 
matter. 

At  first,  criticism  had  to  be  mildly  given, 
but  soon  open  discussion  of  the  work  could 
be  tolerated,  and,  properly  governed,  made 
profitable,  if  not  at  all  times  logical  and 
influenced  by  a  full  knowledge  of  the  finer 
proprieties. 

An  advertising  department  had  early  to 
be  discontinued,  as  the  fertility  of  the 
youthful  imagination  knew  no  bounds  re- 
garding property  to  be  sold  or  exchanged 
and  regarding  situations  wanted. 

The  venture  was  a  success  from  its  first 
issue  to  its  last,  and  it  had  an  influence  on 
each  subscriber  far  greater  than  any  other 


JOURNALISM  IN  A  DISTRICT  SCHOOL      53 

periodical  in  the  land,  because  each  sub- 
scriber was  a  contributor,  not  receiving  ed- 
ucation so  much  through  its  columns  as 
through  the  reflection  of  what  he  put  there 
himself,  and  by  far  the  greatest  benefit 
from  what  he  w^as  not  allowed  to  publish. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  much  origi- 
nal work  was  approved  and  used,  and  one 
story  from  the  lowly  sheet  found  its  way 
into  The  Teachers^  Institute,  the  predeces- 
sor of  Teachers''  Magazine,  to  be  repro- 
duced, doubtless,  by  thousands  of  little  folk 
throughout  the  land.  No  one  knows  how 
many  well  written  items  for  the  local  county 
papers  and  the  farm  papers  can  be  accred- 
ited to  the  influence  and  training  of  the 
Maple  Grove  Gazette. 

Its  editor  is  a  married  woman ;  its  con- 
tributors are  scattered  far  and  wide;  its 
manuscript  pages,  like  those  of  "The 
iEphemeris"  of  Pompeii,  are  ashes ;  the 
visible  evidences  of  its  being  have  been  de- 
stroyed. But,  as  none  can  tell  to  what  ex- 
tent its  ashes  have  beautified  the  plant  life 
into  which  they  have  inevitably  found  their 
way,  so  none  can  estimate  the  broadening 
tendency  to  beautiful  ideas  and  usefulness 
the  conscientious  occupation  of  a  few  lei- 
sure hours  of  that  year  may  have  effected. 
Certainly  I  have  never  used  an  extra  exer- 
cise that  gave  me  less  labor  and  more  pleas- 
ure, and  that  I  felt  was  more  freighted  with 
future  possibilities  than  the  bi-monthly 
preparation  and  discussion  of  The  Maple 
Grove  Gazette. 


XI 

CHARACTER  IN  HIDING 

A  BACKWARD  gUiiicc  to  cai'ly  education, 
in  the  contemplation  of  its  results  in  the 
characters  of  the  men  about  us,  might  of- 
t(?n  prove  beneficial  to  many  of  us  who,  in 
our  zeal,  often  feel  that  the  essence  of  our 
best  effort  has  been  dissipated  and  lost. 

I  am  an  admirer  of  a  certain  young  me- 
chanic of  my  acquaintance, — of  his  intense 
feeling  of  mortd  obligation  as  a  citizen,  and 
of  Ills  strong  sentiment  of  spiritual  re- 
sponsibility. His  present  development  has 
often  been  a  matter  for  wonder  to  me ;  for, 
from  early  life,  he  has  been  thrown  into 
associations  that  have  wrecked  thousands. 
It  was  all  clear  to  me  the  other  day,  how- 
ever, when  I  stepped  into  his  shop,  unno- 
ticed, and  found  him  talking  to  himself. 

What  was  he  saying?  Was  it  a  passage 
from  a  book  he  was  then  reading  in  leisure 
hours?  Was  it  a  section  of  the  "Insurance 
Bill"  in  which  he  was  deeply  interested? 

No:  it  was  the  concluding  line  of  a 
temperance  poem  in  one  of  the  old  "Sand- 
ers" school  readers. 

Finishing,  he  turned,  and,  beholding  me, 
exclaimed :  "Ah-  Saunders,  listening  to  my 
34. 


CHARACTER  IX  lEIDING  55 

declamation,  eh?  Well,  I  didn't  think  you 
would  turn  eavesdropper."  Continuing,  he 
said:  "Do  you  know,  all  of  the  pieces  in 
my  old  reading  books  come  back  to  me,  as 
I  work  here  at  the  bench? 

"There's  'The  Rapids  Are  Before  You' 
and  'The  Little  Boy  That  Died,'  and  the 
old  fables  and  proverbs,  and  a  host  of 
things  I  never  understood  at  school  whose 
meaning  comes  now  in  a  flash. 

"Say,  I  don't  believe  you  teachers  pay 
enough  attention  to  reading.  Now,  I'll 
tell  you  what  I  mean.  You  don't  explain 
the  lesson  as  carefully  as  you  ought, — that 
is,  they  didn't,  when  I  went  to  school. 

"I  was  a  first-rate  reader :  could  call  all 
of  the  words  and  mind  the  punctuation ; 
but  I  didn't  know  anything  about  what  I 
was  reading.  I  was  always  wondering 
about  the  meaning  of  the  combination  of 
words,  and  only  after  I  left  school  did  the 
ideas  take  definite  form." 

We  talked  over  many  selections  familiar 
to  both,  and  I  left  him,  wondering  at  the 
solid  structure  the  old  fellows  had  so  care- 
lessly built,  and  wondering  if  the  effort 
we  are  expending  on  the  reading  lesson, — 
on  every  lesson, — would  be  rewarded  in 
proportion.     I  am  a  rational  optimist. 

When  we  come  to  consider  that  the  read- 
ing lesson  is  the  first  to  be  impressed,  that 
first  impressions  last  a  life-time,  and  that 
this  lesson  is  the  most  laboriously  wrought 
and  the  most  frequently  repeated  by  the 


56  SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT 

pupil,  docs  it  not  seem  most  worthy  of  care- 
ful study,  from  the  selection  of  a  text -book 
to  the  preparation  of  the  lesson? 

When  tlie  Shah-Jchan  wished  to  build 
a  shrine  to  the  memory  of  Noor-Jehan, 
"The  Light  of  the  World,"  he  sought  out 
the  best  Spanish  architect  of  the  Seven- 
teenth Century. 

The  builder  went  to  India,  displayed  his 
design,  built  the  foundation,  and  then  dis- 
appeared. For  seven  long  years  the  prince 
sought  the  missing  arcliitect  in  vain,  and 
then  one  day  he  reappeared  and  finished 
liis  work. 

To-day,  on  the  marshy  banks  of  the 
Jumna,  stands  a  glimpse  of  heaven- without 
a  flaw,  because  the  foundation  had  time  to 
settle  in  the  soft  soil  before  the  weight  of 
the  Taj -Mahal  was  superimposed. 

Do  we  burden  the  plastic  mind  with  finely 
wrought  casuistry? 

Let  us  select  our  readers  for  the  lessons 
that  will  give  a  firm  foundation,  and  then 
wait  until  the  child  mind  can  sustain  the 
larger  analysis, — the  column  and  the  in- 
tricate arabesque  of  the  design  that  we 
have  set  so  high  as  an  ideal. 


XII 
OUR  GLORIOUS  HERITAGE 

At  any  season  of  the  year  a  contempla- 
tion of  nature  will  be  amply  rewarded,  but 
in  Spring  the  varying  tints  that  clothe  hill 
and  vale  inspire  in  their  tenderness  those 
emotions  that  prove  our  kinship  to  the 
divine  and  those  thoughts  of  beauty  that 
are  the  voices  of  divinities  within.  The 
most  stolid  and  illiterate  appreciate  and 
grope  for  the  words  to  express  that  which 
is  stirring  in  the  unexplored  recesses  of 
their  souls,  and,  lost  in  the  labyrinth  of 
the  manifold,  the  anthem  of  their  silent 
adoration  mingles  with  the  incense  from  a 
million  buds,  that  sweetly,  tho  invisibly, 
arises  to  caress  the  mighty  groins  of  the 
temple  arch  spining  so  sublimely  overhead. 

The  man  of  culture  is  somewhat  removed 
from  this  mere  sensual  appeal,  for  he  has 
the  power  of  knowledge  which  makes  him 
master  of  this  heritage,  accumulated  and 
enriched  by  the  heroic  struggle  of  the  ages  ; 
and,  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  sacred  birth- 
right, his  soul  is  broadened  to  that  god- 
like philanthropy  which  embraced  the  chil- 
dren and  demanded  their  development  in 
His  name. 

57 


58  S(  IIOOL  MAXAGK.MKXT 

It  is  this  sentiment  that  has  provided  a 
breath  of  fresh  air  for  thousands  of  stifled 
little  ones,  hut  more  than  this  all  children 
need.  The  "Complex  Chinese  toy"  that  in- 
spires wonder,  but  only  a  degree  of  joy,  in 
the  unopened  mind  of  city  or  of  coimtry 
child,  must  he  taken  apart  and  carried  piece 
by  piece  into  the  dim  recesses  of  the  little 
brain,  until  mere  wonder  and  admiration 
are  supplanted  by  the  pure  delight  the 
Creator  must  feel  in  knowing  how  the  "toy" 
was  fashioned,  and,  finished,  made  to  go. 

Take  the  boys  and  girls  into  the  country, 
where  at  every  step  an  object  appears  for 
an  impressive  lesson.  Let  them  breathe  the 
ozone  tinctured  b}^  the  breath  of  hemlock 
and  of  pine.  Let  them  pluck  the  anemone 
and  hunt  the  arbutus.  But  surprise  them 
with  a  feast  of  beauties  underlying  all  of 
these. 

The  season  belongs  to  the  children,  and 
they  have  an  inalienable  right  to  all  of  its 
treasures ;  and  we,  who  have  reveled  in 
these  riches,  will  be  greatly  enriched  in 
sharing  them. 

The  saddest  thought  of  the  season  to  me 
is  that  so  many  country  children  seem 
utterly  oblivious  to  their  surroundings,  and 
I  never  enter  a  school-room  without  feeling 
that  I  should  attempt  to  arouse  the  chil- 
dren to  an  appreciation  of  the  grace  and 
beauty  by  which  they  are  encompassed  in 
every  moment  of  their  freedom  out  of  doors. 

City  children  long  for  the  beauties  and 


OUll    GLORIOUS    HERITAGE  59 

the  privileges  of  tlic  country,  and  the  need 
to-day  is  the  awakening  of  the  country 
cliild  to  the  glories  and  advantages  of  his 
environment. 

In  these  buds  of  futiire  men  and  women 
are  the  possibilities  of  a  rich  and  rewarding 
harvest.  Awaken  them  ;  warm  them  ;  show 
them  the  wonders  of  the  long  past  of  prep- 
aration for  the  kingdom  they  inherit  with 
the  flowers ;  and  point  them  to  a  material 
progress,  as  Avell  as  to  a  progress  beyond 
that  of  the  finite  plant,  flower,  and  fruit, — 
that  progress  in  the  evolution  of  the  mani- 
fold that  will  not  cease  even  when  man  un- 
folds, an  amaranthine  blossom  for  the 
adornment  of  an  eternal  destiny. 


XIII 
EDUCATION  FOR  USEFULNESS 

The  need  of  tlic  rural  districts  in  educa- 
tion is  immediate,  and  the  call  is  insistent 
and  should  be  at  once  answered  intelligent- 
ly, if  agriculture  is  to  be  re-cstabhshed  as 
a  foundation  of  our  national  importance 
and  if  rural  districts  are  to  be  repopulated. 

The  attractiveness  of  those  occupations 
which  pay  large  rewards  for  intelligence 
has  lured  the  bo^'s  and  the  girls,  generation 
after  generation,  to  the  cities,  until  in  the 
East  over  70  per  cent,  of  the  population 
is  crowded  into  the  towns  and  less  than 
30  per  cent,  is  left  to  lonesome  hving  in 
districts  more  than  half  depopulated. 

There  is  no  reason  why  agriculture  intel- 
ligently pursued, — pursued  in  the  light  of 
modern  discoveries,  with  modern  imple- 
ments, after  modem  methods,  and  with 
sectional  limitations  and  modern  market 
needs  in  view, — should  not  pay  as  large,  or 
larger,  returns  than  the  average  small 
business  in  the  city,  or  the  average  pro- 
fessional occupation.  In  every  instance,  an 
agricultural  specialty'  intelligently  followed 
will  be  far  better  rewarded  than  any  clerk- 
ship in  any  city. 

60 


EDUCATION  FOR  USEFULNESS  61 

For  long  years  past,  teachers  and  foolish 
parents  have  held  up  a  false  picture  to 
the  youth  of  the  country.  They  have  dilat- 
ed on  the  country  boy  who  has  gone  to  the 
great  city  and  has  become  a  great  lawyei, 
a  great  physician,  musician,  merchant 
prince,  or  a  captain  of  finance,  forgetful 
of  the  fact  that  few  country  boys  from  the 
great  mass  have  reached  a  point  where  they 
have  become  noticeable,  still  fewer  are  liigh 
in  finance,  and  none  are  in  "high"  finance 
whose  characters  would  exalt  them  as  mod- 
els for  emulation.  Teachers  have  let  the 
glamor  of  the  limelight  fall  on  the  isolated 
cases  of  the  country  boy  who  has  made  a 
hit  in  the  city,  while  all  around  the  small 
disc  of  light  upon  the  curtain,  but  hidden 
in  the  contrasted  intensity  of  darkness  and 
obscurity,  are  the  thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  country  boys  and  girls  who 
have  gone  to  the  city  and  have  met  nothing 
but  hardship,  disappointment,  and  failure, 
to  say  nothing  of  fates  more  dismal,  dis- 
tressing, or  disgraceful. 

The  time  has  come  in  rural  education  to 
show  both  sides  of  the  city:  its  East  side 
as  well  as  its  West, — its  First  avenue  as 
well  as  its  Fifth.  The  time  has  come  for 
the  tidal  wave  that  has  so  long  flowed  city- 
ward to  be  reflected  from  the  congested 
canons  of  commerce  and  to  flow  more  calm- 
ly back  toward  the  wellsprings  from  which 
its  particles  were  drawn. 

The  need,  then,  in  rural  education  Is  a 


62  SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT 

school  properly  equipped  and  having  a 
trained,  conscientious,  and  discriminating 
teacher, — a  school  in  which  every  iiuniaji 
relation  is  placed  in  its  proper  position 
and  shown  in  its  actual  proportion, — a 
school  in  wliich  the  beauty  and  sublimity 
of  nature  shall  be  given  prominence,  and 
in  which  the  dignity,  attractiveness,  and 
profit  of  rural  occupations  shall  be  given 
their  proper  value, — a  school  in  which  the 
child  is  taught  the  practical  things  of  life ; 
is  taught  something  of  the  principles  of 
government  and  of  successful  agriculture, 
the  foundation  of  all  national  prosperity. 

I  do  not  mean  that  a  desire  for  higher 
education  should  be  stifled,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, as  I  have  urged  elsewhere,  it  should 
be  stimulated,  but  not  by  false  ideals, — by 
firing  the  youthful  imagination  with  false 
views  of  human  greatness  in  artificial  lines, 
leading  to  the  erection  of  false  hopes  and 
the  cherishing  of  idle  dreams  that  lead  too 
often  to  dissatisfaction,  despair,  and  flat 
failure. 

How  often  3'ou  have  heard  it  remarked 
of  a  college  graduate  who  has  failed  to  con- 
nect with  some  useful  occupation  :  "There 
goes  a  five  thousand  dollar  education 
wasted  on  a  fifty  cent  man."  The  fact  is, 
that  there  goes  a  most  useful  citizen  side- 
tracked hy  false  conceptions  of  what  spells 
success  and  by  improperly  formed  ideals, 
influenced  in  the  formative  period  by  un- 
wise   instructors    or    foolishly    ambitious 


EDUCATION  FOR  USEFULNESS  63 

parents.  The  five  thousand  dollar  educa- 
tion is  all  right,  and  the  man  is  infinitely 
better  off  in  possessing  it,  but  the  pity  is 
that  in  getting  it  he  did  not  spend  some 
time  in  studying  how  to  make  practical  use 
of   it. 

This  is  what  is  being  aimed  at  by  the 
Education  Department  of  New  York  State 
in  introducing  civics  and  agriculture  and 
nature  study  into  the  course  of  instruction 
for  common  schools.  It  is  a  step  in  the 
right  direction,  toward  the  need  of  the 
rural  communities,  and  is  one  that,  if  fol- 
lowed out  by  the  teachers  and  supported  by 
the  district  organizations,  will  have  its  in- 
fluence in  making  the  country  and  its  life 
and  occupations  attractive  to  the  boys  and 
girls  and  will  eventually  increase  the  rural 
population,  improve  farm  values  and  the 
value  of  farm  products,  and,  above  all,  the 
value  and  enjoyment  of  the  inhabitants  of 
rural  communities  in  which  are  found  the 
men  and  women  who  right  the  wrongs  and 
maintain  the  tone  of  the  nation,  in  which 
too  often  false  standards  have  been  fol- 
lowed toward  apparent  disaster. 

It  is  back  to  nature  we  must  hark ;  back 
to  contact  with  the  soil ;  back  to  the  simple 
life,  the  standards  and  the  high  purposes 
of  the  founders  of  the  republic;  back  to 
truth  and  an  honest  strife  for  a  time  wealth 
that  will  represent  a  true  prosperity.  And 
on  the  teachers  is  the  burden  of  inaugurat- 
ing the  era  of  renewal.  It  is  a  worthy 
trust,  a  noble  and  ennobling  opportunity. 


XIV 

HOME    LESSONS 

With  your  classes  reduced  to  tlie  small- 
est possible  number,  you  have  gained  the 
great  advantage  of  a  larger  allotment  of 
time  for  each  recitation,  but  at  the  outset 
you  will  be  checked  in  the  ampler  devotion 
by  the  knowledge  that  you  are  encroach- 
ing on  time  which  should  be  spent  in  study. 
You  are  a  college  or  normal  graduate  and 
you  long  to  revel  in  the  pleasure  of  play- 
ing the  professor  who  has  forty  or  sixty 
minutes  in  which  to  lecture,  to  experiment, 
or  to  amplify  the  day's  lesson.  You  see  so 
many  opportunities  for  adding  collateral 
strength  to  the  recitation, — so  many 
things  suggest  themselves  for  making  the 
period  interesting.  You  loved  your  note- 
books and  clasped  them  close,  forgetful  of 
the  midnight  oil  j'ou  burned  in  poring, 
delving,  hoarding,  that  you  might  prepare 
yourself  to  appreciate  the  hour  in  the 
class-room  in  which  your  knowledge  has  in- 
creased and  your  intellect  expanded  in  the 
manner  ever  new  and  delightful,  and  you 
naturally  long  to  treat  your  boys  and  girls 
to  the  same  enjoyments;  and  here  let  me 
say,  it  is  possible  for  you  to  create  a  taste 
6i 


HOME    LESSONS  65 

for  such  pleasures  in  your  pupils,  pro- 
vided you  can  inspire  them  to  a  sacrifice 
of  time  in  study  at  home. 

There  may  be  but  four  or  five  of  your 
twenty  classes  that  you  would  or  could 
treat  to  amplified  recitations,  and,  per- 
haps, but  two  of  the  four  or  five  lessons 
need  be  prepared  at  home ;  but  the  alacrity 
with  which  your  pupils  in  advanced  grades 
acquiesce  to  the  proposition  and  the  assi- 
duity with  which  they  maintain  the  home 
study  will  depend  on  your  ability  to  make 
the  need  of  extra  work  apparent  and  to 
keep  the  text  conned  an  enticing  prelude 
to  the  larger  interest  awaited  in  the  class- 
room. 

I  used  to  think  it  would  be  a  grand  thing 
if  all  of  my  pupils  could  come  to  school 
with  lessons  prepared  in  the  way  In  which 
I  early  went  to  school,  but  I  overlooked 
the  possible  condition  into  which  the 
younger  and  more  mischievous  would  fall 
while  unoccupied  with  recitations.  There- 
fore, I  have  come  to  think  it  unadvisable 
for  the  lower  grades  to  have  more  than 
one  or  two  hghter  lessons, — preferably  ex- 
ercises,— to  prepare  out  of  school,  as  the 
time  which  can  be  devoted  to  a  just  devel- 
opment of  their  recitations  necessitates 
small  allotments  from  text-books,  very  eas- 
ily mastered  in  the  various  branches  dur- 
ing inter-recitation  periods.  We  all  know 
what  a  real  nuisance  the  smart  little  fel- 
low becomes, — the  one  who  gets  all  his  les- 


66  SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT 

sons  at  home,  and  so  idles  and  plays  in 
school  that  he  has  forgotten  them  by  the 
time  he  is  called  upon  to  recite.  We  all 
know  it  is  better  for  him  to  do  the  larger 
part  of  his  studying  in  the  school-room, 
under  our  ej^e  and  subject  to  our  guidance. 

But  for  the  older  pupils,  to  whom  you 
could  and  should  give  more  time,  as  you 
feel  that  their  days  in  the  school-room  are 
growing  fewer  and  still  fewer  in  the  ma- 
jority of  cases,  the  more  lessons  you  can 
get  them  to  prepare  at  home  the  better,  if 
you  are  going  to  exert  to  the  utmost  the 
broadening  effect  of  thoroughly  developed 
lessons,  and  do  your  utmost  to  inspire  a 
desire  for  higher  education.  With  a  high 
school  in  every  large  village  and  a  univer- 
sity with  state  assistance  in  free  scholar- 
ships, we  are  not  doing  our  duty  if  we  do 
not  do  our  very  best  to  inspire  our  ad- 
vanced pupils  to  their  best  endeavor  for 
that  education  which  will  enhance  their 
pleasure  in  living  and  broaden  their  influ- 
ence and  usefulness  in  the  world. 

This  is  done  most  effectually, not  so  much 
by  direct  appeal  as,  subtly,  by  the  hidden 
power  of  knowledge  which  the  more  un- 
covered in  its  beauty  the  stronger  becomes 
its  attraction  for  the  pupil,  until  met  by 
barriers  of  limitation,  until  unsatisfied,  the 
pupil,  grown  student,  finds  the  courage  to 
lift  the  veil, — to  leap  the  wall  and  stand 
face  to  face  with  mysteries  more  enticing 
than  those  practised  by  the  Egyptian  pas- 


HOME    LESSONS  67 

tophori.  They  came  to  college,  raw  coun- 
try boys,  from  the  furrow  and  the  sheep 
trail, — from  the  hills  of  the  charcoal  pits 
and  the  obscure  valleys, — with  the  quench- 
less light  of  a  Maccabean  miracle,  their 
only  attraction,  a  gleam  in  their  eyes,  and, 
to-day,  they  are  preaching,  pleading  at 
the  bar,  teaching,  experimenting  with 
natural  forces,  amply  repaying  those  who, 
in  log  cabins  and  little  red  schoolhouses, 
on  hillside  and  in  valley,  took  the  time 
and  trouble  to  make  learning  so  attrac- 
tive that  the  light  of  pine  knot  and  tallow 
candle  falling  on  the  page  of  reason  ilhi- 
mined  a  vista  that  did  not  vanish  in  the 
labyrinth  of  calculus. 

Common  school  progress  is  necessarily 
slow.  "It  is  the  resultant  of  a  multitude  of 
forces  aiding  and  opposing  one  another," 
says  Peabody.  But  the  individuality  of 
the  teacher  is  the  strongest  force  amid  the 
multitude.  That  altitude,  where  home  les- 
sons become  a  necessity  in  your  country 
school,  can  be  reached  only  by  a  long, 
steady  pull, — by  an  unoppressive,  but 
ever-expressed  zeal, — by  a  constant  exer- 
cise of  all  the  faculties  and  artifices  that 
are  the  attributes  of  a  good  teacher. 
When  you  have  stimulated  the  conception 
of  a  desire,  a  new  necessity  is  soon  born. 

We  shall  have  children  physically  too 
weak  to  make  home  lessons  advisable  for 
them.  We  shall  be  opposed  by  parents 
who  think  their  Willies  and  their  Kitties 


C8  SCHOOL  MANAGEMENT 

work  hard  enough  in  the  school-room,  and 
discourage  tlioin  from  home  study ;  and  we 
shall  ever  have  those  whom  nothing  but  a 
stroke  of  lightning  would  inspire  to  grasp 
the  higher  thought;  but,  never  discour- 
aged because  of  the  limitations  of  speci- 
mens that  defy  theories  and  exhaust  in- 
vention, we  must  ever  strive  to  do  the  best 
we  can  with  the  means  and  material  with 
which  we  have  to  work;  and,  planting  and 
watering  incessantly,  at  last  lie  down  in 
trust  that  the  increase,  some  thirty,  some 
forty,  and  some  one  hundred  fold,  will  be 
granted  by  the  powers  we  have  striven  to 
evoke,  but  which,  in  the  last  analysis,  we 
are  forced  to  admit  are  absolutely  beyond 
our  control. 


UCLA-Young  Research   Library 


L  009  593  842  9 


*.        ''  '"0*5     ^  ^^  <^T-  T  .  1 


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